Dragon's Avatar
by Tyranifex
Summary: Azula is bored. She is after all perfect, a master of Fire Bending and possessed of a brilliant mind, nothing can satisfy her any more. That is until her salvation comes: riding a ball of fire out of a great light - maybe this pink haired boy can be of some entertainment? Maybe he can relieve her of this boredom. (Rated M for safety, cover pending)
1. Chapter 1

**Tyranifex: Hi there, some of you may recognise me, most will not. I've been out of the game for a while, but I'm back to try my hand once again at this fun hobby. Please Read/Review.**

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Chapter 1

It was high noon at the Fire Nation capital of Ozai. This was the part of the day which best represented the power and majesty of the Fire Nation. The Princess of that nation, and current second in line to the throne, Azula, had just finished her studies. She performed these under the Imperial scholars, the most learned men of the Empire, and just like every other day she had mastered their teachings. ' _She truly was the most intelligent and gifted girl in the Empire!'_ they'd praise her.

"Tell me something new" she thought to herself not even giving her tutors a second consideration. It had been drilled into her since she was a child: the fact that she truly was a prodigy like no other.

After her studies she would usually come here, to the Imperial Gardens. This was a place where the most exotic and rare flowers from around the world bloomed. Or more accurately she would pass through here on her way to the sparring ground. She had little time for flowers or, in her opinion, the myriad of trivial things other court girls usually cared about. She was determined to hone her fighting skills and perfect the beautiful art of Fire Bending. As in her studies, her perfection in this art proved to be a problem for her: she had surpassed her Fire Bending 'Masters' long ago. No fire bender alive could hope to match her! Well none save perhaps her Lord Father and her disgrace of an Uncle.

Maybe that was the reason she spent more time than ever in the gardens now - she was bored. She had heard tales of other geniuses having their skills dulled by boredom and that was unacceptable. She walked carefully down the raised wooden path between two beds of flowering plants recovered from the far eastern Earth Kingdom. As she did so she remembered the advice her father had suggested to help relieve her tedium: a husband or at least a boy friend.

Initially she had turned her nose up at the idea. She would not marry some ponce of a noble from the homeland! They were all the same, she thought contemptuously, either monumental brats or old men. She had entertained the thought of using some commoner for her amusement, or maybe one of the court girls who reminded her of Ty Lee. Neither was out of the question. Though she was certain her Father would not approve, ' _Mother probably would...'_

While pondering her current conundrum, she almost failed to notice the pale white glow that had appeared in the sky above the palace. Her curiosity peeked, she turned her head to give it her undivided attention. She half closed her eyes to squint against the brightness of the sun.

As she observed, the phenomenon changed and it seemed as though a flame appeared to emerge from the light: a flame far more intense than anything she'd ever seen. The white light disappeared as it was overwhelmed by the intensity of the flame which became larger and larger.

"No… it's getting closer!" Her eyes widened as she realised where it would fall. Quickly, she reacted to protect herself. She ran as fast as she could to evade the falling fire. Her swiftness and agility, gained through countless hours of combat training proved to be her salvation, as she remained totally unharmed by the blaze. The impact was loud and destructive, flattening the gardens and tearing out a section of the palace roof.

Within seconds a large number of the palace guard flocked to the scene: some attending their Princess and others looking to investigate the collision.

"Princess Azula! Are you hurt my lady?"

"I'm fine now let me through." she ordered as she forced her way past the guards looking to discover the position of impact. Eventually she found what she was looking for, but what she found surprised her.

At the centre of the crater, lying unconscious and naked, save for some burned rags and a white scaled scarf was a pink haired boy. While his clothes were in tatters, his skin seemed to be untouched by the flames.

" _Hmm!… this boy could be quite interesting"_ she mused _._ "Guards, have this boy brought to my chambers – then clean up this mess." This was the final command she would give today, after all this had to be interesting right?

 **Note: If at any point in this story you find a difference from the canon series, consider that creative liberty (though I will try to keep that on the down low). Bye.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys, here is Chapter 2, thanks for the responses in the last one, hopefully I can keep it up. R &R**

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The fully armoured palace guards were swift and unquestioning in carrying out the orders of their Princess. This speediness had been instilled in them during their rigorous and intense training. It made them fearsome exterminators, unhesitating in pursuit of a kill, as was so often expected. To be unquestioning however was not instilled by training. Quite the opposite in fact! They were encouraged to ask questions – find out as much information as possible within reason of course when faced with time constraints.

It was a sense of fear and survival on this occasion that made them unquestioning. They were aware of the very real consequences of questioning crowned Princess Azula – if they valued their continued existence they had to be totally obedient. They dared not question Azula's order that the unknown boy should be taken to her chambers. Many were thankful that she was also of a mind to order him clothed since anything he had been wearing had been cremated during his entry into the palace grounds

She had also ordered that the boy should be placed in restraints: steel cuffs and shackles to bind his arms. This was ostensibly for his own safety o _f course:_ he had after all started to thrash around unconsciously when they were clothing him so he **had** to be restrained. Those guards who had had their helmets and armour dented by the boys apparently immense strength were only too happy to oblige their lady.

Within ten minutes, the Princess's orders had been carried out, but she was unimpressed to say the least. The boy should have been delivered to her chambers, clothed and trussed in far less time. She restrained herself from scathing criticism though as she was aware that many of the guards were occupied with the damage to the palace - some delays were to be expected.

"Very good, put him down on the bed, then go assist with the repairs. I will handle things from here." Like always her orders were acted upon instantly. Now she was alone with the unconscious boy. She settled herself into one of her recliners as she pondered on the days' events and the pink haired oddity in front of her. As she contemplated the boy, she began to appreciate his very unusual physical characteristics. For one - pink hair? Nowhere in the world was that considered normal, not even in the most extravagant provinces of the empire.

And why were there no signs of any injuries on the boy, given his violent entry onto the palace grounds? There were no burns or bruises to be seen. His body should be riddled with both, given he had fallen from at least ten metres above the ground and yet barely a scratch. He must be incredibly hardy to have survived she thought. He was surely a mystery and she did not enjoy the feeling of ignorance. She had to satisfy her curiosity.

She thought on how to awaken the sleeping boy and soon an idea clicked. Rising from her recliner, she walked over to one of her incense burners. The overwhelming scent of the incense was an excellent stimulant and was often used to rouse heavy sleepers. It should work well here.

She positioned the burner directly below his nose and held it there. Almost instantaneously, the incense worked its magic: there was a loud yell as the boy's nose coiled back, trying to escape the odour. His brown eyes shot open as his brain tried franticly to figure out what was happening. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" His voice was a combination of disgust and anger. He couldn't believe someone would do something so cruel. His poor nose!

Azula merely smirked at his reaction and discomfort: "Lower your voice when addressing royalty commoner." She snarled coldly. "Now tell me who you are and where you have come from." If she kept him on the defensive throughout this conversation he'd learn to respect her position and fear her.

Or so she thought. His response was far different from what she was expecting. "Shouldn't you introduce yourself to me? After all that sneak attack you pulled was totally unfair!" he tried to bring his hands up to tend to his sensitive nose only to find they were restrained. He glared at her resentfully.

"My name's Natsu, Natsu Dragneel of Fairy Tail! Best guild in all of Fiore!" he said this with a huge amount of pride in his voice and why shouldn't he? His comrades had fought hard to make their guild number one during the Grand Magic Games after all. "Now that I've told you who I am you should tell me who you are and where I am." He just didn't seem to understand the gravity of his situation, had he missed the part when she said 'royalty'?

Azula planned to impress upon him the situation. "I am Princess Azula of the Fire Nation. Now tell me about this Fi-"

"Fire Nation!? That sounds awesome! Are you like a country which only uses fire magic or something?"

Was he mocking her? Not only had he interrupted her, he claimed to be ignorant of the Fire Nation? Everyone in the world knew and feared the Fire Nation!

"But I can't stay here, I've got to get back to Fiore!"

Azula leaned back into her recliner as she continued to look at the boy, considering what he had said. "You're not going anywhere until you answer every one of my questions. Now how did you get here?" Azula's command made Natsu frown for a moment before he shrugged and answered.

"I was riding on…" His face turned green for a second and his cheeks bulged before he recomposed himself and continued "a the train back from my last guild job when I was attacked, or at least I think I was attacked I don't remember much. Maybe some of those dark guild punks managed to get away before I caught them – Did you see a blue cat with me?" Blue Cat? What's a Cat?

"Nothing came with you, well nothing except for this scarf." Azula held up the scarf which he had come down with, she'd removed it while he was being dressed. He saw it and instantly outstretched his hand to receive it.

"Can you give me that back please?"

She handed it back while formulating her next question, though she was once again interrupted. This time by the sound of a rumbling stomach, his. "Heh, sorry I haven't been able to eat for a while"

"Hmm, you've been very disrespectful to me, perhaps you shouldn't receive food." Azula smirked for a second when she saw the boy instantly get on his knees and kowtowing to her in apology, though it would only last for that second as she saw something disturbing.

The manacles that had been around his wrists were gone, left behind Natsu on the tiled floor of her chambers she could see the still glowing cuffs melted through. Not even her flames could do that so quickly and how hadn't he been hurt by the heat!? What sort of bender was he?

"Please! I'm really sorry, I just need some food!" his pleas brought her out of the stupor she'd been in.

She pointed at the cuffs and demanded: "explain how you broke loose!"

"I used my Dragon Slayer magic."

There was a stunned silence. 'Dragon Slayer?' this boy who'd fallen from the sky must be insane! But on the other hand he had just fallen from the sky, so maybe there was something she was missing.

"Very well Natsu… I think you've earned yourself some food. Come with me."


	3. Chapter 3

**Next chapter's here, i hope to get the next one up soon.**

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Natsu followed the Princess in front of him through the ornate halls of the Fire Nation palace. While he had a bored expression on his face, he was actually quite surprised by the differences between this and the castle at Crocus, the seat of power for the King of Fiore and in which he had resided briefly when he had become King. That castle was constructed of grey and white stone while this seemed to have far darker shades of stone.

Not that he really cared that much about the differences: this castle had a lot more of what he loved - Fire! On every wall there were tapestries embroidered with the symbol of the Fire Nation, illuminated by flaming torches. It was far more appealing to him than the simple magical lights of Fiore. He also noted the wonderful fresh, earthy smell of the great fires that burned just outside of the palace main entrance. This added to the primal appeal of this place that only someone like Natsu could. He'd definitely want to live here if he didn't have to get home.

But perhaps he could come back here some time: the idea of a 'Fire Nation' simply sounded too good to ignore. He wanted to stick around to explore and find out all about this new land he'd never heard of. Maybe He'd learn some new tricks he hadn't come up with! As he walked his nose picked up the scent of heavily spiced food ' _the food even tastes hot? I'm liking this place more and more!'_

"Are we nearly there? I can smell something good cooking."

Azula turned her head and responded, "Yes we're here. Normally an outsider would never receive such a privilege, but you shall be dining with me. While we eat you will answer more of my questions."

"Sounds good to me!" Natsu replied as he bolted up to the door the food was behind. He burst through the door much to the surprise of those preparing the table inside. They were preparing only for the ever calm and collected Azula since her Father was currently away from the palace. They were totally unprepared for some newcomer smashing through the door.

Before any of them could panic however, they saw their Lady following the pink haired boy. They all bowed their heads to Azula as the head attendant of the group stepped forward to her side. She kept her head low as she addressed the Princess.

"Princess Azula, I apologise but we were not expecting anyone besides yourself. Shall we prepare extra food?"

"Yes, prepare something more." The servant nodded and ushered the other servants out of the room. As she was about to follow them to the kitchens, Natsu yelled, "Make that a lot more!" She stole a glimpse at the pink haired boy. This odd creature had a large appetite then!

Natsu had sat himself down at the rectangular table in the spot closest to the plate of meat. It smelled to him like a very heavily spiced chicken. With his bare hand, ignoring the various utensils arrayed on either side of him, Natsu snatched up a drumstick. He started digging in while his free hand reached for another leg longing to devour the succulent meat.

Azula watched this with a mixture of fascination and disgust. She had never seen anyone or any _thing_ eat so voraciously before this moment. He seemed to have completely forgotten she was there in the room with him. She sat herself down at the head of the table and began to eat what little she could before Natsu could lay his hands upon it. She would have to be vegetarian tonight, as he seemed to ignore the vegetable entirely. Luckily the attendants brought in more food as the night went on.

When the meal was nearing its end and long after Azula had had her fill, she had started to stare at Natsu. This continued until he noticed the look she was giving. He had seen this look many times on the faces of Erza and Lucy whenever he gorged himself like this. He swallowed down the food he had been chewing and spoke: "So what else did you wanna know?"

"Tell me about the place you came from, Fiore was it?" As she waited for him to answer she took a bite out of one of the Flame Apples that she had plucked from the fruit bowl.

"You want to know about Fiore? Well okay, it's a small country ruled by the 'Fiore' family. Throughout Fiore and most of the continent there are wizard guilds that take jobs for money. I'm a member of the top guild: Fairy Tail!" his response was both totally innocent and honest, which was troubling to Azula's mind.

There was no county called Fiore! The only countries in the world were the three nations, but from the look on his face she could see that he believed every word of what he uttered. She wasn't going to dismiss the possibility of him telling the truth though', after all, he had fallen from the sky. "Okay, before you woke up here did you ever hear of the Fire Nation?"

He shook his head. "I hadn't heard of it until you mentioned it." He reached for a bowl of what looked like red potato chips. Once again she detected no deceit or hesitation. He could be telling the truth, as he perceived it.

She chose to continue with the questioning. "You mentioned 'Wizard' what do you mean by that? Do you mean bender?"

"What's a bender?" confusion was evident in his voice. She brought her hand up to her face in a rare sign of exasperation.

"Are you saying that where you come from you have never heard the term bending and don't know what bending is?" He nodded his head, obviously confused at what she was implying. "Well then… tell me about your magic."

He grinned at her the way he would Lucy. "I use Fire Dragon Slayer magic."

Azula was once again reminded, 'Dragon Slayer'. She somehow doubted that the term meant the same to him as it did to her. After all, in the Fire Nation, slaying a dragon was one of the highest honours possible, or at least it was, until they became extinct. Her Uncle had been the one to slay the last dragon long ago. Natsu was far too young to have possibly killed a dragon.

"And what does that actually mean?" she pressed.

"My body has taken on the qualities of a dragon. I have Dragon lungs to breath fire, dragon scales to dissolve fire and Dragon Claws for attacking with it."

"Those are quite bold claims. Only a handful of people in the world can say that they managed to kill a dragon."

Natsu took a final bite out of the last chunk of meat, devouring it perhaps a little slower since his appetite was now sated. "I haven't actually slain a dragon. I was taught this magic by my Dad, Igneel."

Azula nodded, pondering as she gradually came to understanding. So the term 'Dragon Slayer' referred to the breed of magic he wielded. "Your father sounds like a strong man, I'd enjoy the chance to speak with him."

Natsu leaned back in his chair, his stomach bloated from the meal as he replied to her "Oh my dad isn't a man, he's a giant dragon."

Silence. Then laughter and finally tears very nearly came to Azula's eyes as she let her amusement show. This was too much! Maybe she could accept that he was from some land unknown to the Fire Nation and maybe she could believe he had some power beyond bending which prevented him from being hurt by the impact earlier, but to be fathered by a Dragon?

Yet, when she saw the serious look in his eyes, making them shine gold in the light of the flame torches surrounding the table, she could see he believed every word.

"Hay! Don't laugh at me! My dad's a real dragon!" Natsu yelled indignantly as he stood up abruptly. Somehow his bulging stomach had shrunk back into its normal muscular form as though he hadn't eaten anything.

Azula slowly managed to reign in her laughter as she raised her hand in a calming gesture, "Very well, I'll believe it until I see evidence to the contrary." This seemed to placate the dragon slayer so she continued with perhaps the most important question.

"Now, what are you going to do? Obviously I cannot just let you leave as you could be a massive threat to the Empire."

Natsu didn't even hesitate. He knew what he needed to do and this princess wouldn't stop him. "I need to find a way back home. If I fell out of the sky, then it could have been an… erm Anima, I think. I'm not good with the portals and other worlds crap."

Azula raised her right eyebrow in contemplation: "Would you even know where to begin? There is every possibility that the only way for you to go home is the same way you came here."

"I'll figure something out! I have to." It seemed to Azula that he wasn't going to back down from this. She pondered for a moment before letting her curiosity get the better of her.

"How about this? I'll have a Royal Decree sent out for the citizens to be on the look out for anything that looks like the portal you came through. It will be reported back to me and I'll tell you. Meanwhile, you stay here in the Palace beside me. This is far more likely to succeed than you striking out on your own."

Natsu wanted to protest to Azula's plan but it made far too much sense. Also he really liked this place. It was no Fairy Tail but for some reason he felt at home here. Perhaps it was something to do with the fire.

"Okay, that sounds like a good idea to me."

Azula smiled, this would indeed be interesting. "Alright then, since that is agreed, I'll have you shown to your chambers while I go to the edict centre and have this decree sent out."

With that she had Natsu seen to his room while she scribed the orders. She pondered why she was helping this odd boy. It was not normal for her and anyone who knew her knew, that she wasn't the kind of person to be charitable. _"But it isn't about helping him; it's about finding a new sort of challenge. Finding more land to conquer and control. It's an opportunity to improve myself for the role of Fire Lady. This after all could be the next great step in Fire Nation history."_


End file.
